Samsung has confirmed that it decided to delay the launch of the Nexus Prime handset, which will be the first to run Android 4.0 - aka Ice Cream Sandwich - out of respect to Steve Jobs.

Samsung has confirmed that it decided to delay the launch of the Nexus Prime handset, which will be the first to run Android 4.0 out of respect to Steve Jobs.

The Nexus Prime was due to launch on Tuesday 11 October but Samsung and Google mysteriously postponed the event on Friday, leading to speculation that the two companies thought the timing was too close to news of the Apple co-founder's death.

Samsung has since confirmed that the event was pulled for this reason, with Reuters quoting a a Samsung spokesman as saying: "We decided it was not the right time to announce a new product while the world was expressing tribute to Steve Jobs's passing."

However, it is still uncertain whether there could be some patent issues still being contested that will affect the launch and Samsung has not confirmed a new date for revealing the Nexus Prime.

Apple and Samsung will face each other in Dutch, Korean, Japanese, American and Australian courtrooms this week. Samsung said that there were no plans to delay any hearings in the aftermath of Jobs' death.

The Samsung Nexus Prime is due to be the first smartphone to run Android 4.0 - otherwise known as Ice Cream Sandwich - which is the first iteration of Android designed to run on both tablets and smartphones.